Senate Republicans and some Democrats fear another government shutdown is looming this fall after bipartisan spending talks sputtered this week, forcing Republicans to cancel the markup of four appropriations bills scheduled for Thursday on Capitol Hill.
Republicans think Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is angling for another showdown over government funding right before the midterm election, just as he and other Democrats forced a big fight last year over the expiration of enhanced health insurance subsidies.
“I think my Democratic friends at the direction of Sen. Schumer are not going to agree to a top-line [spending number] and they’re not going to agree to vote for any appropriations bill, and Sen. Schumer is going to shut down government,” said Sen. John Kennedy.
The Breakdown
Negotiations between Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins and Sen. Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the panel, have stalled. Collins canceled a markup of four bills on Thursday, as Sen. Mitch McConnell is absent this week because of a health issue, and she could not count on Democratic votes to pass the bills out of her committee.
It is a jarring difference compared with last year, when the Senate Appropriations Committee approved many of its annual spending bills with strong bipartisan support. But with the midterm election only a few months away, the atmosphere in Congress has changed dramatically.
“Last year was not an election year,” Kennedy noted. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito said, “Democrats want to shut us down. Hopefully, we can solve the problem. There’s no support on the other side.”
The Blame Game
Democrats say another shutdown is possible, but they assert it would be Republicans’ fault because they are in control of the White House and both chambers of Congress. Sen. Chris Murphy said he thinks another government shutdown could be on the table for the fall.
“These guys are the Keystone Cops. They don’t know how to run the government, so a shutdown is always possible,” he said.
Senior Democrats on Tuesday said Republicans are pushing for a much bigger increase for defense spending than for nondefense spending. “The ratio of four-and-a-half to one, the increase in defense over nondefense. We think that’s way out of line,” said Sen. Dick Durbin.
A Republican aide said the Democrats’ characterization of the negotiations is misleading and asserted Collins has made an “extremely reasonable” offer to which Democrats have responded with an “extremely unreasonable” counteroffer.
The Political Strategy
Many Democrats thought they won last year’s battle when they forced a record-setting 43-day government shutdown to highlight rising healthcare costs and Republican opposition to extending enhanced subsidies under the Affordable Care Act.
This has led some Republican senators, such as Sen. Rick Scott, to push their leaders to have a messaging strategy to blame Democrats for a possible third government shutdown so that the GOP does not pay a political price for the dysfunction in Washington.
Scott circulated a letter urging Republican colleagues to begin laying the groundwork for a government shutdown battle in September and October. “Democrats have been clear that they want to shut down government on October 1st because they believe that is their path to a majority in November,” he wrote.
Senate Republicans plan to discuss their political strategy in case of an October government shutdown during a meeting with President Trump in the Capitol on Wednesday.
The Bottom Line
Bipartisan spending talks have stalled in Washington, raising the prospect of another government shutdown this fall. Republicans and Democrats are blaming each other as the midterm elections approach. Senate Republicans are planning a political strategy to blame Democrats for any shutdown, while Democrats point to Republican control of the White House and Congress. A partisan dispute over immigration enforcement caused a 76-day shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security earlier this year.
